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Docetaxel-Platinum Combination Shows Promise in Advanced Ovarian Cancer: Presented at ICACT

By Paula Moyer

PARIS, FRANCE -- February 13, 2004 -- The use of docetaxel (Taxotere) in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy can increase tumour sensitivity in patients with advanced ovarian cancer, according to findings presented here February 10^th at the 15^th International Congress of Anti-Cancer Therapy.

According to principal investigator Tibor Packáň, MD, an investigator with the East Slovakia Cancer Institute in Kosice, Slovakia, this chemotherapy regimen was effective and well tolerated by patients with advanced ovarian cancer enrolled in an initial small trial. The investigative team is continuing to follow these patients, the researcher added.

The investigators recruited 13 consecutive patients who had histologically confirmed ovarian cancer. The patients were a median of 54 years old with a range of 29 to 63 years. They had at least stage III ovarian cancer as defined by the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (FIGO) -- 7.7% had FIGO stage III B disease; 53.8% had stage III C; and 38.5% had stage IV.

A total of 53.8% had been treated previously with a combination of paclitaxel (Taxol) and platinum-based chemotherapy. Among these patients, 30.8% had received a first line of chemotherapy; 53.8% had received 2 lines; and 15.4% had received 4 lines. Karnofski index performance status was 100 in 61.5% of patients and 90 in 38.5%.

Patients received a total of 59 cycles, 5 cycles median per patient, with a range of 2 to 6 cycles. Complete remission was achieved in 30.8% of patients, with a median time to progression of 11.6 months and a range of 6.7 to 12.9 months, while 23.1% achieved stable disease, with a median time to progression of 16.4 months (range 13.7 to 27.3 months). Another 7.7% of patients did not respond to treatment and experienced disease progression.

The most frequent Grade 3/4 toxicities were leucopoenia in 3.3% of cycles; febrile neutropenia in 1.7% of cycles; infection in 1.7% of cycles; and asthenia in 1.7% of cycles. The investigators observed Grade 1/2 toxicity in 38.9% of cycles; all patients experienced alopecia.

These findings show that the docetaxel-platinum combination is effective and well tolerated and warrants further study, Dr. Packáň stated.


[Study title: "Docetaxel in the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. Abstract P43]

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